Arafat and the European Union
Palestine-Italy, Politics, 8/30/2001

The chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat called on Wednesday on the European Union for an active role to halt the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people.

In a press conference he held with the Italian foreign minister Renato Rogero following their meeting in Gaza, Arafat said " we are looking forward to your role and the role played by the G-8 (countries)," noting what is taking place in Rafah, Beit Jala, and Bethlehem of an Israeli military escalation.

As for the American call on Israel to pullout from Beit Jala, Arafat said:" we will see whether Israel will fulfill the American request, which considers that occupying parts of Beit Jala is a clear aggression against Christian religious sites not only for the Palestinian people but for the world as whole.

For his part, the Italian foreign minister said he had discussed with Arafat means of achieve some progress, adding that Arafat had stressed to him that he is ready to hold talks with the Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres.

The Italian minister added:" We do not accept this meeting to fail ( the meeting between Arafat and Peres) and it should be the first meeting in the series of other meetings." He called for moving towards implementing the Mitchell plan during the political negotiations.

Previous Stories:
  Italy, Palestinian government boost bilateral cooperation   (6/10/2000)
  Italian President in Palestine   (10/13/1999)
  Italian president confers with Arafat   (9/4/1999)

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